


Pillars of Salt and Pillars of Sand

by lls_mutant



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003), Firefly
Genre: AU, Caper Fic, Crossover, Gen, Horses, PTSD, road to earth, save the captain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-24
Updated: 2010-11-24
Packaged: 2017-10-13 08:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/135453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lls_mutant/pseuds/lls_mutant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the <i>Demetrius</i> happens on a broken <i>Serenity</i>, they've got the parts to fix her.  In return, Mal takes Kara Thrace and Felix Gaeta to Greenleaf to see this civilization.  But Greenleaf isn't exactly Paradise, and when does anything ever go as planned?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pillars of Salt and Pillars of Sand

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for my Chinese in advance.

"Jump completed," Gaeta announced, and something beeped. "DRADIS contact!" Gaeta leapt up from his seated position to lean over the console. "Unidentified ship at seven three six."

"Seelix. You got anything on the comms unit?" Kara demanded, thundering down the steps and into the control room of the _Demetrius._

"Nothing. No Colonial frequency at all." Seelix frowned, twirling a dial. "Nothing that looks Cylon, either."

"I want a visual," Kara said, her brow furrowing.

"On my way." Athena was already struggling into her flight suit.

"FRAK!" Gaeta swore heavily. "Something's fouling our navigation." He pulled the chair over with his foot and began typing frantically into the console. "Not a virus, though. Some sort of signal."

"Coming from the ship?" Kara leaned over his shoulder.

Gaeta leaned away from her. "Yeah. And I- hey, wait a minute."

"What?"

"The ship's not moving."

"Ours or theirs?"

"Theirs." Gaeta frowned. "I mean, it's not even…"

"I'm not getting any signs of life support over here," Hot Dog put in. "No heat signature, nothing around their exhaust ports…"

"Dead ship?" Kara asked.

"Got me," Hot Dog said with a shrug.

Seelix spoke up. "Captain. I've got something."

"Put it on speaker," Kara said. "And keep a channel open for Athena."

All that Seelix had was a lack of static. Nothing came through, but it was clearly whatever frequency the unknown ship was communicating on. "Attention, unknown vessel," Kara said. "This is the _Demetrius_ of the Colonial Fleet. Identify yourself."

The entire control room held their breaths… nothing.

Kara shook her head and tried again. "Attention, unknown vessel. This is-"

"Captain?" It was Athena's voice in her ear.

"What have you got for me?" Kara asked, pressing the headset closer.

"I don't know what the frak this is," Athena said. "It's not Cylon, and I've never seen anything like it on the Colonies, either."

"Any signs of life?"

"Looking now. I see the cockpit." Athena paused. "Someone's in there. It's not a Cylon."

"It's not a Cylon we know," Kara muttered. She switched the channel back again. "Attention, unknown vessel. This is the _Demetrius_ of the Colonial Fleet. Please respond."

"This is Captain Mal Reynolds of _Serenity_."

The entire control room went still. Everything kept to a focus, and Kara could barely breathe. "Captain Reynolds," she said. "Where are you from?"

"Where I'm from ain't so much a concern right now as where I am." The man's voice sounded weak. "I hate to be an imposition, but I'm in a whole heap of trouble here. I don't suppose you folks have any spare engine parts that could be for sale?"

Kara glanced over where Helo was standing, listening intently. "What sort of parts?"

"Looking for a catalyzer for a class… class code 03-K64. Firefly."

Helo shook his head. "Never heard of it."

Kara turned her attention back to the communication. "Never heard of a Firefly, Captain," she said. "We're not from around here."

"Well, if you can't help me, I'd sure appreciate it if I could come aboard. Ain't got no life support, and what air I do got's gonna be gone in a matter of minutes."

"Captain…" Gaeta said warningly.

"It could be a trap," Seelix agreed.

"Athena. Any signs of anyone else?" Kara asked.

"No. Want me to get this guy off?"

"Bring him on." She could _feel_ the skepticism of her crew. "We need to find out where this guy came from. Get the marines up here."

***

Captain Mal Reynolds wasn't a threat; that much was clear when he came on this ship. He was pale and still shivering from cold, and his lips were still tinged blue. And he wasn't a Cylon; at least not one of the ones that they knew. That made Kara relax a little, and at the same time, her pulse quickened.

Reynolds looked around. "I should tell you," he said, his hands up as he entered, "I've got people coming back. Two short-range shuttles, eight people."

"Eight people?" Kara asked. She glanced at Helo.

"They'd likely die if I didn't call them back, Captain." He was taking in her uniform. Kara wasn't in her duty blues, but she saw Reynold's eyes land on her tags. "You're military?"

"Yes."

"But not Alliance."

"Never heard of them. Like I said, we're not from around here," Kara answered.

"I'm beginning to see that. You folks don't look much like anything I've ever seen, and this sort of ship ain't in my repertoire. Look," Reynolds sighed, "I'm unarmed. You've seen my ship, you know I'm straight with you about the _túnbù dàn_ of trouble I'm in. Want to take the guns off me now?"

They needed to be careful. There were still five models of Cylons that they didn't know _what_ they looked like, and it was possible that this Reynolds could be one of them. But she gestured to the others to stand down. "We'll give you what we can in terms of parts," she promised, "but we need some questions answered." Reynolds shrugged. "We're looking for Earth."

Reynolds' eyes widened. "Earth? You mean Earth-that-was?"

 _Frak._

***

"Look, I don't care if it's an 'Earth-that-was'," Jean argued. "It sounds like there's a whole frakking huge civilization here."

" _If_ we can trust him," Athena said darkly. "We still don't know what the frak this guy is." She jerked her thumb at Reynolds. Jean glared at her, but wisely didn't say anything.

"Captain," Gaeta interrupted, "I've got two incoming ships, coming from opposite directions. It's got to be the shuttles that Reynolds was talking about."

"All right. Tell Pike and Dragon to bring them in." Kara turned to Reynolds, who was starting to look a little bit better. "You said you've got a mechanic on board?" Reynolds nodded. "She can take a look at what we’ve got."

"Be mighty obliged. We still haven't talked payment yet, though." Reynolds seemed awfully worried about that.

"No," Kara agreed, "we haven't. We will once we've seen your people."

As soon as Kara saw the crew, her worries ceased. There were eight people, and they all looked different. Not the Final Five Cylons, then. She _knew_ it. Even Gaeta and Seelix were looking more convinced.

The crew wasn't anything too unusual, although there was a time Kara would have thought they were. They were a rag-tag band. Reynolds himself and the injured woman named Zoë were obviously former military, and their knuckledragger Kaylee and their pilot Wash were just as obviously not. Kara would put even money on the man called Jayne and their preacher, who had a composed exterior and a controlled air about him. The medic Simon and his younger sister River seemed extremely wary of them, which Kara respected, but Inara, who was dressed in what was clearly expensive clothing, had a gracious and open manner. Simon settled Zoë in a free bunk, and Kaylee disappeared immediately with the other knuckledraggers to look for something that might serve.

"I don't understand," Wash said, his nose wrinkling at the stench on the ship as he looked around. "Killer robots annihilated your entire civilization?"

"Seems pretty straightforward to me," Jayne grunted.

"Yes, but infiltrating a global defense system?" Book was siding with Wash. "Alliance technology is excellent, but I find it difficult to believe that a robot could convincingly impersonate a human being."

"Yeah, well, believe it," Pike snapped, taking off his helmet. "And guess which one in the room is the robot."

"Pike!" Kara snapped.

Reynolds was watching her warily. "You've got one of those Cylon things here?"

"She's not a _thing_ ," Helo spoke up, arms crossed. "She's a person."

"Wait. _This_ is your robot?" Reynolds said, catching on and pointing at Athena.

"Cylon," Athena corrected firmly.

Reynolds whistled, and then raised his eyebrows. "Something tells me there's a story here that would take a fair amount of time to be told," he said.

"Right," Kara agreed. "And there are other questions that need answered now. I assume your ship has an FTL drive?"

"An FT- what?"

"FTL drive," Kara said, brow furrowed. "Faster than light."

"Wait," Wash was half laughing, half skeptical. "You want to know if _Serenity_ can go faster than _light_? Seriously, am I the only one who's got a problem with this? Killer robots that look like humans, space ships that go faster than light, and nuclear holocausts? This doesn't sound a little far fetched and science fiction-y to anyone else? There's no ship in the Alliance that can do that!"

"That we know of," Jayne added darkly.

"They ain't Alliance," Reynolds said. "Alliance isn't going to put top-secret, special faster than light engines on a sewage ship. Anyone want to argue that this isn't a sewage ship?" Their faces all answered for them. "Good. I thought so." Reynolds looked at Kara. "It's a mighty strange story you've got, Captain, but I'm finding myself inclined to believe you. It's so far fetched that it don't make sense any other way other than being the truth."

"Captain." Kaylee had reappeared with the knuckledraggers. Her eyes were shining with excitement. "Have you seen the engines they got on this boat? I ain't never seen anything like it."

"What do you mean, Kaylee?"

"Well, I seen all kinds of engines when my Daddy had work, but these… the configuration ain't nothing like I've ever seen. _Ever._ The turbine's got a reformer built right in, and the membrane on the cell is some material I ain't ever seen. Travers here says it's made of a-"

"Kaylee. Am I going to understand the next word out of your mouth?"

"Probably not, Captain." She didn't look overly abashed by it.

"Then give me the short version, please. Can their engines go faster than light?"

"I'd believe it." Kaylee nodded earnestly.

"And before you go telling me about all their other gizmos, do they have anything that can do us in the catalzyer department?"

"Oh! Actually, they do. We're making a couple modifications to it- the operating temperature they use is a bit higher than ours- but it will get _Serenity_ to limping again. Should get us to Greenleaf. And they have a compression coil that will do us fine, too."

"All right then." Reynolds turned back to Kara. "Let's deal. We ain't got much money, but I'm guessing you folk wouldn't be helped much by Alliance credits anyway. So you come on over to _Serenity_ and take a look around-"

"I don't need to," Kara interrupted. "I'm not looking for a _what_ , Captain. We're looking for a _where._ "

"A where?"

"A where," Kara said. "I'm going with you to Greenleaf."

***

"You can't," Sam insisted when some sort of order had been restored.

"What the frak do you mean 'I can't', Sam?" Kara asked. Dragon had taken the _Serenity_ crew down to kitchen, and the bulk of Kara's crew was huddled in the control room

"We don't know the first thing about… about who these people are or where they're from!" Sam argued.

"Sam's right, Kara," Helo said. "Taking the _Demetrius_ to this Greenleaf could be suicide for all of us."

"Or not," Jean spoke up. "They aren't Cylons."

"There's something more." Gaeta had been extremely quiet ever since the crews came on board, and the sneering that had characterized his attitude for the past month was curiously absent. "They speak our language."

"So?" Pike demanded.

Gaeta shrugged. "We're light years from the Colonies," he said. "And they speak our language. The concept that our languages evolved nearly identically independent of each other is too fantastic to be believed. They know about Earth. They've got to be the thirteenth tribe."

Help from Gaeta was pretty much the last thing Kara expected. She could only stare at him for a long moment.

"Still," Seelix rallied. "They might be the thirteenth tribe, but how do you know they won't shoot us out of the sky the minute we show up? This… Alliance… doesn't sound like they really like strange aircraft floating around in their space."

"Then I'll go," Kara said. "Look. You're right. There's a risk, Sam. And that's why I'm not taking the _Demetrius._ If we're walking into a trap, then you all aren’t going. It's just me."

"You can't go alone," Sam insisted.

"Try and stop me." Kara leaned on the table. "This is the _right_ way. I can feel it. I need to go."

"Kara-"

"He's got a point." Helo spoke up. "I know you can take care of yourself, but you'd better take someone else. Especially navigating on a sublight engine."

Helo was right. Kara pressed her lips together. "Let me talk to Reynolds."

***

"Two passengers?" Reynolds gave a small shrug. "I guess we can do that."

"Long as you don't give us any more of that algae stuff," Jayne grumbled. "You people really been eating that?"

"Yes," Kara said.

"Convinced me you're sure as hell telling the truth. No one would eat that _hóuzi diàodào_ unless they had to."

"Well-put," Reynolds said dryly. He turned back to Kara, arms crossed. "Okay. You and one other person. Only condition; not the Cylon."

"Why not?" Kara said, narrowing her eyes. Athena had been her first choice.

Reynolds took a deep breath. "Look. I get that you trust her, and she's on your side. And that's fine. She's yours. But I don't know _you_ that well yet and I ain't so sure I trust you. Don't be misunderstanding me- I do think you're telling the truth about where you come from and that you're in a whole heap of trouble. Like Jayne said, no one eats that stuff unless they have to, and there's a whole host of other things that make me think you're being truthsome with me, too. But I've got my people to think of, and I ain't putting them at any more risk than I have to with this caper. We'll take you and one of your people to Greenleaf and bring you back and call it square, but not the Cylon."

"Fair enough," Kara agreed. She looked over her shoulder. "Gaeta. Get your gear together. You're coming with me."

"Me, sir?"

"You're the best navigator left in human existence," Kara pointed out. "We might need you to get back there. Now get your gear together and let's go."

***

"How do we know you're going to bring them back?"

The man answered to the name Helo, and he was definitely a threat as he stood in front of Mal, arms crossed and biceps bulging. And despite Mal's experience with big men, he was pretty sure that Helo had actually retained some of his brain matter, rather than letting it escape to the biceps. He thought carefully.

It was Inara that volunteered a solution. "We could keep people here," she suggested. "That way you'll know they have to come back. I'll stay."

"No," Mal said, but Helo nodded.

"That would work."

"No," Mal repeated, looking around at the others for backup. But Book stepped up.

"I believe that this would be a good course of action, Captain. If it would ease your mind, I'll stay with Inara." He stepped closer to Mal. "Besides, I think this crew could use a missionary at the moment."

"Think they could use a square meal and a better ship more than the Word of God, but that's just me. Fine," Mal capitulated. The truth was, Book staying _did_ make him feel better, and there was something about this crew and their strange story that oddly struck him as safe enough. Maybe it was just the fact that they were so obviously miserable, or that no one would voluntarily live on a sewage ship eating algae. "All right," he said to Helo. "Book and Inara stay here, Kara and… Gaeta, was it? They come with us."

"Two for two," Helo agreed, and extended his hand. "Good luck, Captain Reynolds."

"You too, Captain Agathon."

***

Kara stood on the bridge of _Serenity_ , watching the _Demetrius_ shrink down to a spot and then disappear altogether. Gaeta stood beside her, his face blank.

"You got Helo all set with the coordinates?" Kara asked.

Gaeta gave her his best _stop being an idiot_ look. "You were there. He's got the coordinates to jump back to in three weeks when we're supposed to meet the Fleet, and then another set to meet us at two weeks later if we get held up. That's going to have to do." _Now stop asking me stupid questions._ He didn't say that last part, but it came across loud and clear.

"We're back on course," Wash said. He tapped a code in and fiddled with a few levers. "I hate to be a rude host, but I really want to go check on my wife."

"Your wife?" Kara asked, a little surprised.

"Yeah. Zoë. She was hurt when the catalyzer blew and…" Wash was obviously upset. Kara just nodded.

"We'll be okay," she said. Wash smiled at them hastily and disappeared.

The bridge was quiet for a long moment. Gaeta stared straight ahead out at the stars, not looking at Kara. She was about to say something when the bridge door slid open and Reynolds came in.

"I'm imagining that you folks might like to get settled, maybe see to some sort of bath." Kara couldn't argue with that. Here on _Serenity_ , she was aware of how much both she and Gaeta smelled. "I'll take you back to your rooms, give you the tour, and you two can get settled."

"Excuse me," Gaeta said, picking up his bag and following obediently. "Did you say _rooms_?"

"Yeah. We take passengers on from time to time. Extra fare keeps us flying, so we've got passenger rooms. Ain't nothing much, but they're comfortable."

"But _rooms_ ," Gaeta emphasized, and Kara finally cottoned on.

"Maybe this isn't such a bad assignment after all, huh Gaeta?" she teased. "A room to yourself for two weeks?"

Gaeta just blinked, but Kara could see that the idea of privacy was dawning on him. She smirked.

The passenger rooms _were_ nice, for as low-tech as _Serenity_ was. Kara could have done with a running shower, but the rooms were well lit, with decent beds and doors. Gaeta looked like it was all his birthdays at once, but then Gaeta hadn't gotten more than a grunt's room, Kara realized.

"Get yourself cleaned up," Reynolds told her. "We'll meet up in the dining area to go over everything after." He gave her a small grin and left.

The room wasn't silent; Kara could hear the hum of _Serenity_ 's engines, and the walls were thin enough that she could hear Gaeta running water into a basin next door. She sank down onto the bed. That terrible pulling feeling inside her- the one that threatened to tear her apart and drive her insane- was lessening. This Greenleaf might not be Earth, but they were going the right way. Finally.

***

"I still think this is a rutting bad idea," Jayne muttered, using his knife to clean out the inside of a can. "We don't know the first thing about them two."

"We don't know much about any passengers we take on," Mal said. "And that's what they are. Paying passengers."

"We didn't know much about Simon and River," Kaylee pointed out cheerfully.

"Yeah, and look how well _that_ turned out," Jayne grumbled.

Mal couldn't help but agree, but before he could break up the argument, Simon stepped into the kitchen. "How's Zoë, Doctor?" he asked.

"Good," Simon was hesitant at first, and then repeated "Good," with much more confidence. "She's regained consciousness and stabilized, and her vitals are good. She's going to need some rest, but she'll pull through."

"Good. Good to hear." Mal could breathe a little easier now. "We didn't lose too much time, and we should be able to find us a better fix on Greenleaf."

"Not to be negative," Kaylee put in, "but how are we gonna pay for a better fix? Their compression coil and catalyzer will get us there, but we really could use a new one, Captain. And that ain't gonna be cheap."

"We'll find a way. There's always work on Greenleaf."

"I hesitate to ask, but is the work legal?" Simon asked. "I just… I hear a lot about Greenleaf."

"Legal or not don't matter. It pays." It was simple from that perspective. "Now, I figure-"

Bootsteps, and Kara Thrace and Felix Gaeta joined them, both looking around with interest. They were both much cleaner than they'd been, although as Kara stepped closer Mal noticed that her clothing still had an unpleasant stench lingering. He hoped both of them were just waiting for the night to wash their clothes and give them a chance to dry.

"Welcome," Mal said. "Have a seat." Kara sat in the nearest empty seat, next to Kaylee, but Felix gravitated immediately towards Simon. Interesting. "By now you've seen the passenger dorms, and this here's the kitchen. Nothing fancy, food's available whenever you want, but we do have regular meal times. Now, normally with paying customers I ask them to stay in the passenger dorm and the kitchen when the ship's in the air, but this here's a special sort of situation. I'm figuring you two are aiming to get some education, and I'm also figuring there's some things you can enlighten us on as well. Not to mention you can make yourselves useful, which is something most passengers can't. So I'd ask you stay out of the crew rooms and out of Inara's shuttle, just like the rest of the crew holds to." Both of them nodded. "Figured that wouldn't be a problem.

"Now. The planet we're headed for is called Greenleaf. It's out on the Rim- that's the edge of the reach of human civilization." Mal explained.

"How far does this civilization exist?" Felix asked.

"Five main sequence stars, four of which orbit a central star. Probably about thirty, forty planets that are inhabited. I'll get Wash to bring you down a map if you want." Felix nodded, sitting back, apparently impressed.

"Alliance holds mostly in the central planets," Mal explained. "We ain't going there, although your Fleet might choose to. Greenleaf's on the Rim, and it's got a tropical belt. Lots of trade. Alliance patrols, which I ain't to fond of, but that's what you get when there's profit to be had. We'll be able to get fixed up, resupply what we can, get some work. We've got a couple contacts there that should be able to hook us up with something."

Simon cleared his throat. "Captain, if you don't mind, I'd like to examine both Kara and Felix, and give them some inoculations. Their immune systems are likely different from ours, and the last thing we need is any sort of outbreak."

"Sounds good," Mal agreed. "Felix, you go with Simon, and Kara, I'll bring you up to speed." Felix got to his feet and nodded silently, following Simon out of the dining area and down to the infirmary.

Mal sat down across from Kara. She was watching her lieutenant go with an odd expression. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah." Kara yanked her attention back to Mal. "He's fine. We've just been at odds since…" her face darkened even more. "Nothing."

Mal studied her, but Kara's gaze didn't waver. Told him two things: one, whatever it was was bad, and two, whatever it was didn't concern him. Fair enough. "Long as he's not going to pull a gun out and start shooting my crew-"

"No. He's not the type."

"Okay, then." Mal sat back. "Still trying to bend my mind around your story. Sounds like your people have been through a whole heap of a lot of trouble."

"Understatement," Kara said dryly. "We've only given you the quick and dirty overview."

"What could be worse than genocidal robots blowing up your entire race?" Mal asked.

"Anyone mention New Caprica to you?" Kara asked, a little sarcastically. Mal shook his head. "Yeah, well, New Caprica. Not to mention eating algae for almost a year, losing about forty percent of the pilots that were serving under me, a complete breakdown of the government as we know it, not to mention living on a sewer ship…"

"I take your point." Mal frowned, trying to take in everything she'd said. "What's New Caprica?" he asked, because there was something about that one that made her eyes flash more.

It took Kara a few minutes to answer. "We found a planet," she finally said. "It wasn't much, but it was habitable. Barely. But it was in a nebula, which made it hard to find. We settled there, although that's another story right there. It wasn't pretty. But eventually the Cylons found us. We weren't up for a battle right away, so there was an occupation."

He waited for her to say more, but she didn't. She didn't look at him, either. She stared down at her hands, toying with a fork someone had left on the table. He thought about it, decided not to push it now, and if he really needed to know more, maybe he could get it out of Felix. "Well," he said, finally. "Sounds like New Caprica was a hell of a place. I'd really like to hear more about the Colonies, though, if it ain't too hard for you to talk about. Be nice to have an idea of what I'm dealing with, here."

Kara's face lightened, and she talked much easier after that. Mal also discovered that she was excellent at explaining things as she walked him through the layout of the twelve planets, the government structure, and a bit of the culture. He sat back and listened and asked questions, and hoped like hell he hadn't just bitten off a _hú dìyù de bùshǎo_ more than he could chew.

***

 _Serenity_ 's infirmary was more complete than Felix had been expecting. "Get a lot of call for medical work on a ship like this?" he asked. "You're a transport ship, right?"

Simon shrugged. "Have a seat," he said, pointing to the table in the center of the small room. Zoë was sleeping on the bed off to the side, her breathing even and peaceful. Simon began rifling through a few drawers, and came up with the standard doctor apparatus: stethoscope, thermometer, blood draw equipment. Felix was vaguely disappointed- he'd been hoping for something a little more exotic. "Take your shirt off," Simon prompted when Felix didn't immediately do it. He began the standard exam.

"I do stay busy," Simon said after he'd listened to Felix's heart and lungs. Felix had almost forgotten he'd asked the question. "Space travel's dangerous to start with, and this crew has a tendency to…" he smirked, watching the dial on the blood pressure cuff he'd slapped on. "Well, let's just say they get into trouble."

"Ah. Is that what happened before? With the catalyzer?"

"No. As I understand it, it was just bad luck." Simon sighed. "Do you smoke?"

Felix flushed. "Yeah. I know I shouldn't, but-"

"Might want to think about quitting." Simon shined a light in Felix's eyes. "You may not have a choice, anyway. I don't know what Mal's views on smoking on his ship are, but I've never seen anyone light up on _Serenity._ "

"Starbuck won't like that," Felix said, with a certain amount of savage glee. If he had to be miserable, so could she. Although he suspected he'd feel it a lot more than she would.

"Your blood pressure's high," Simon said, removing the cuff and pulling on a pair of latex gloves. He took a tourniquet and wrapped it around Felix's bicep. "I imagine stress. Are you sexually active?"

"Yes. Well, before I went on the _Demetrius._ "

"Are you using barrier protection?"

"Hasn't been a condom in the Fleet for months now," Felix admitted.

Simon paused. "What are you doing for birth control then?"

"Me, personally?" Felix asked. "Nothing. We might have FTL drives, but we haven't gotten to the point where men get pregnant."

"What, like based on the seahorses- oh, wait. I see what you're saying." Simon rolled his eyes. "Well, just out of professional curiosity, what sort of birth control does your civilization use?"

The question sent a sudden, unexpected chill through him. He shook it off with a shrug and only the briefest memory of dark, almond-shaped eyes. "It's variable. Barrier methods, pills, hormone shots… I think most of the women on _Galactica_ favored shots."

"Well, then we'll check you over for STDs as well as any other infections," Simon said, carefully inserting a needle into Felix's vein. He sighed, watching the blood sample flow. "I have to say, you're making our day look a lot better."

"That's not hard to believe," Felix said. He sat back, letting Simon get on with his exam, looking around the infirmary again. He wondered again exactly why a transport vessel would require such a stocked infirmary, and noticed the adrenaline needle in the trash. Whatever this crew did, he would bet money it was a lot more than just transporting passengers. And he was rather surprised to find that at this point, he didn't care.

***

"Are they all settled in?" Wash asked when Mal returned to the bridge.

"Suppose so. How's our schedule looking?"

"We should make up the lost time in a day or so." Wash was much more relaxed. "Any thoughts on who might have work for us when we get to Greenleaf?"

"Thought I might give Gwen a call."

"Oh, Mal. Not Gwen." Wash shook his head. "Gwen's… Gwen's deranged. Remember that time she set fire to that barn?"

"Yeah, but it was better than the Alliance getting hold of what's inside."

"You'd do better off going with Malvern."

"Malvern told me he'd shoot me on sight next time he saw me. At least with Gwen there're odds."

"'Odd' is definitely the right word." Wash sounded skeptical, but it was lighter. "Want me to put a wave in to her?"

"Let's get a little closer. Don't want to give too many people the heads up that we're going to be in town." Mal put a hand on Wash's shoulder. "Make sure you get some sleep tonight, all right? She's doing better." Wash just nodded. "I'd better go check on our guests. Let me know if any other fiery conflagrations start up."

"Will do."

***

Kara heard laughter. The sound of it made her smile as she made her way into the kitchen. It seemed like most of the crew had gravitated here. Jayne, Kaylee, and Zoë were sitting in the chairs in the alcove, playing a card game with River watching them, and Simon and Gaeta were sitting at the table, eating lunch.

"You're joking." Simon said to Gaeta. "There's no way that he-"

"I'm dead serious," Gaeta said, gesturing with his chopsticks. "I walked in and there he was with his pants around his ass, eyes closed like he was kissing someone! Right by the test tubes! It made wearing open toed shoes look like a mild violation of lab safety."

Something about that made both Simon and Gaeta collapse into more hysterical laughter.

"I think it's scientist humor," Kaylee said helpfully as Kara stared at them in a disgusted sort of awe. "They've sure took right to one another, haven't they?"

"Yeah. Like once fancy pants doctor boy ain't enough around here," Jayne muttered.

"No, I think it's nice for Simon to have a friend," Kaylee said. "What with him being on the run from the Alliance and all."

 _That_ was news to Kara. She snapped around to stare at Simon, and she noticed that Gaeta didn't look shocked at all. Bastard. That was something he should have told her. He saw her looking, read her expression, and shrugged insolently. Kara pressed her lips together and turned away.

The others hadn't noticed. "Us outlaws always need friends," Simon said ruefully to Kaylee. "Before you know it, we'll be riding through the Old West holding up stage coaches and he'll be calling me _Kemo Sabe._ " The room was silent, and Simon sighed. "It's a reference to an extremely old and classic… oh, never mind."

Kara rummaged through the kitchen. After a few days on _Serenity_ , she at least felt at home enough to know where the can opener was and that no one minded if she used a pot and the stove, but the idea of eating something not algae still made her mouth water. She opened a can that had a depiction of an orange on it, and dumped the contents into a pot. It didn't smell anything like oranges. In fact, it smelled like carrots.

"So let me see if I've got all this straight," Zoë said with a teasing laugh as she laid down a card. "This Baltar- the same one with his pants down in the lab humping empty air- is the same man you all elected President?"

" _I_ didn't elect him," Kara said, viciously stabbing the carrot mush in the pot. Definitely carrots, canned and chemically reacted until they barely resembled the real thing, aside from the smell. "Gaeta here voted for him though, I'm sure. He had a real thing for him." She had the satisfaction of seeing Gaeta blush.

"Wait a minute," Jayne said, cottoning on. "Felix is sly?"

"Sly?" Gaeta asked, glancing at Simon.

"Slang for homosexual."

"Oh. Oh." Gaeta thought about it, and then brightened a little. "I like that."

"It does fit, that's for sure," Kara said grudgingly. The smell of carrots was becoming overpowering now. When had she last _had_ carrots?

Jayne seemed much more concerned about Felix. "You're really sly? You ain't gonna… creep in my rack, or something, are you? Or hit on me?"

Gaeta looked vaguely repulsed. "No. Trust me, you're safe from me."

"Oh." Jayne considered it. "Why not?"

The others, including Gaeta, just laughed, and Kara wanted to. But her palms were starting to sweat, and her stomach was twisting in directions she was fairly certain it shouldn't go.

"The inclusion of the plum is illogical," River said as the laughter faded. She was looking at Jayne's cards.

"Huh?" Jayne asked, glancing over his shoulder.

"It's illogical. Twenty-one plums, seventeen apples… the math doesn't add up."

"What's she saying?" Jayne asked.

Zoë snickered. "She says you're cheating," she said, unearthing a card that hadn't been properly discarded. "I believe this is yours, Jayne?"

"Er, no, I-"

"Well now," Mal entered the kitchen, looking pleased. "This is looking to be a pretty good day."

Zoë looked up, interested. "We got work?"

"Got a wave back from Gwen. Seems she's got a job for us."

"What kind of job, sir?"

"Pretty simple, really. Get in, get the goods, and get them to her people on Persephone. Even works out that we should be able to drop Kara and Felix back off with their people on the way through."

"That's it, sir?" Zoë asked dubiously. "Get in, get the goods, and get them to Persephone?""

"Well, yeah. Of course, we have to…" he stopped. "What smells like burned carrots?"

"Frak!" Kara yanked the pot off the stovetop. "Sorry."

"No harm," Mal said. He studied her more closely. "You okay, Kara?"

"Fine." Kara began to scoop the salvageable parts of her meal out of the pot.

"Where are we landing?" Zoë asked, getting back to the initial conversation. Kara took a bite of the carrot mush.

"Gwen's got a spot for just outside of-" Mal was saying, but Kara didn't hear any more. All of a sudden she was back in that prison, the steak in front of her and the carrots on the plate, straggly and orange and bitter smelling. Leoben's dead body on the floor, and the terrible certainty that he was coming back _again._ The uselessness of trying to escape, because she'd tried so many times before. The-

"Kara." There were cautious hands on her shoulders, and the voice was smooth. "Back off," Mal ordered someone, and then turned back to her. "Kara. You all right?"

The apartment faded, and she was in a whirlwind of confusion. She was vaguely aware that the carrots and pot were on the floor, and she was gripping the edge of the counter, her arms and hands hurting from the effort. She wanted to tell Mal she was fine, but she couldn't speak. Mal's brow was furrowed. "Simon. See if there's anything lemon in there, will you?" he said in the tone of a command.

Simon didn't argue, but immediately rummaged through the drawers and then tossed a can to Mal, his face in its professional doctor's mask. Mal opened the can and dug out a spoon. "Eat this," he ordered. Kara obeyed. The gelatinous cube was strongly sour and overwhelmed her senses, erasing the taste of carrots. The kitchen solidified, and she heard the hum of _Serenity_ 's engines. Mal took a step back, like he was convinced she wasn't going to lash out and hurt anyone now. "You all right?" he asked.

"Yeah." Kara took another bite of the lemon… whatever it was. It made her lips pucker, but it really helped.

"Come on," Mal said, and led her away. As she left, she heard the others resume talking again, although some part of her noted that Gaeta's voice was absent in the conversation.

"Well, now," Mal said as he led her to the cargo bay, "that sure seemed like one hell of a flashback."

"Yeah." The cargo bay was wide open, and Kara began to relax more, especially as Mal didn't push her. Between the open space, the lemon, and Mal's presence, she could breathe again. "Frak," she laughed, ignoring the fact her voice was still shaking. "Didn't see that coming."

Mal cleared his throat, leaning on the railing. "I ain't much good at this sort of thing," he began awkwardly, "but if you do have something to say, I can at least stand here and be talked at."

Kara shook her head. "Not really." He didn't press her, and she leaned on the railing next to him, still eating from her can. "I appreciate it, though."

Mal nodded.

They stood looking over the cargo bay until they heard footsteps. Mal glanced back first, and then excused himself softly, and Kara sighed. She knew who it was.

"Leave me alone, Gaeta."

"I just wanted to see if you were all right, sir."

Kara snorted. "Nice of you to be so concerned at this point."

"It was a simple question."

"Yeah." Kara turned around, leaning her elbows against the railing as she pushed her fork around in the can. Gaeta was standing against the door, obviously reluctant to be in here at all. "A simple question. When is anything with you ever simple?"

"I'm not trying to pick a fight," Gaeta said, his voice controlled. "You just looked upset."

Upset. He wanted to have this out? Fine. Kara could do that. She tossed her hair back over her shoulder angrily. "Tell me something, Gaeta. If it was such a simple question, why was it something you couldn't have asked a Cylon on New Caprica? 'Gee, Mr. One. Is Kara Thrace okay?'"

"Who says I didn't?" Gaeta said through clenched teeth. "Just because I asked didn't mean that the Cylons were going to do whatever it was I was asking for. 'Gee, Mr. One. Get the frak off New Caprica.' Poof- end of occupation. You going to throw me out an airlock for that, too?"

The airlock comment stung, but Kara pushed it down ruthlessly. It sucked, but it was one of the consequences of playing the insider agent. And Gaeta must have known it himself. "New Caprica," she said, gesturing grandly. "What would have happened to you, Gaeta, if the Old Man had never come back for us?"

"I have no idea," Gaeta said, and tried to walk past her to get down the stairs to the passengers' dorm. Kara stepped in his path.

"No, seriously," she said. "Tell me. What would have happened to you? Would you be cozied up on _Colonial One_ still, nodding and yes-sirring to Baltar? Would the Cylons have caught you, do you think?"

"They would have caught me," Gaeta said. "It was only a matter of time after Tyrol stopped that execution."

"That's what I figure, too."

"Then why are you-"

"Would they have killed you, do you think? Or would they have thrown you in detention? In a frakking prison?"

"I don't know." His voice was angry, but even.

"A prison," Kara decided. "A prison with a… hmmm. What model, do you think? What model would have taken an interest in you? I know you're _sly_ ," she said, stressing the word, "but that doesn't matter to them, does it?"

"I don't-"

"It would have been one of the female models," Kara decided. "With all that Leoben kept going on about love and destiny and how he used Kacey…" her voice dripped with bitterness on Kacey's name. "I can almost see that, you being kept by a Three or a Six or an Eight as they try to get knocked up-"

"Shut the frak up!" He struck her.

It wasn't hard by Kara's standards, but it was hard enough that it caught her off guard. The can of lemon protein and her fork went flying with a clatter, and she came up, hand on her cheek.

"Shut the frak up," Gaeta ordered, this time more under control. "Don't you _ever_ -"

"What, don't like the idea of being kept by an Eight?" Kara said. She didn't know quite why she was baiting Felix like this, but the angry pain in his eyes was like a lure, begging her to keep going. "Was there an Eight, Felix? You were always did like Boomer. Or what about a Six, like your precious Gaius Baltar had? You could even have the same Six…"

"There you go, sir. Gaius and I shared the same Six in a crazy, uninhibited threesome. That's how I spent my days, in a wild orgy of sex and drugs."

"You're full of bullshit." Gaeta was regaining his control. Kara homed in on that fact with a fighter pilot's instinct. A Six didn't affect him. It was definitely the _Eight_ that made all of his control go out the window. "So there was an Eight? A sweet little Eight all your own?"

"Shut the frak up!" he shouted. "You think you're the only one who had a hellish time on New Caprica? Look, I am _sorry_ for what you went through and I am _sorry_ I could not get you out of there, but I had my own problems!"

"Oh, boo frakking hoo, Felix!" Kara shouted back. "You sure as hell had problems! You had a nice, cushy office, your own tent, probably extra rations, and apparently, an Eight frakking you. I know you were a frakking hero of New Caprica, but in the end, your life on that shithole was _great_ compared to everyone else! Your problems were of your own making!"

Felix launched himself at her. Kara was almost grateful, ready for the fight, and when Felix swung at her again, she was ready and blocked it. She punched him hard in the gut and he doubled over, and then came up and swung again. She'd never boxed with Gaeta, but she'd always imagined he'd be a lot more precise and controlled than this.

It descended into a brawl, exchanged blows and curses. Gaeta fought dirty, and Kara reveled in it. She was stronger and faster, and every blow that she landed gave her a vicious satisfaction. But it wasn't until she had Gaeta's back against the railing, with him leaning over the cargo bay that she realized where this fight was headed.

"You going to push me?" He asked the question, but his eyes were blazing a challenge, and Kara suddenly realized she wasn't sure of the answer.

"All right. That's enough." Mal grabbed Kara's shoulder and yanked her back.

"You were eavesdropping?" Kara asked angrily.

"Ain't eavesdropping when you two yell so loud the whole _gorram_ ship can here you." Jayne strode forward and grabbed Felix's hand, yanking him away from the railing. "Finally. A good fight around here."

"I don't take issue with you two screaming at each other," Mal told Kara, "or even a good fight. Sometimes it's the only way to clear the air, and the air between you two needs all sorts of cleaning. But I do have to draw the line at you splattering his guts all over my cargo hold. I don't need to be cleaning up that mess."

"I wasn't going to," Kara insisted. "I would have let him up."

"Right." Mal looked skeptical. "Go get yourself cleaned up," he told Felix. "And have the doc look at you if anything needs stitches, all right?"

Felix nodded and left.

"Jayne, Kaylee, and anyone else watching, show's over. Get back to whatever you were doing."

"Yes, Captain."

" _Fine._ "

"Yes, sir." The last one surprised Kara- she hadn't realized Zoë was watching, too.

"So," Mal said, as the silence stretched too long between himself and Kara. "Look, I ain't complaining that you weren't in a confiding mood," he said, leaning his elbows back defiantly on the railings. "But I wasn't exactly fixing for you to be in a murdering mood, either."

"It was a fair fight," Kara muttered angrily.

" _Hào dìyù_ , it was a fair fight. There ain't no way you didn't think you'd wipe the walls up and down with Felix, and for that matter, there ain't no way he didn't know it, either. Now, look. You're on my ship, and that means you live by my rules. You don't have to like him. You don't even have to play nice with him. What you two say to each other is your own _gorram_ business, you got that? But I ain't standing for the physical violence now that you got it out of your systems: it's expensive and it means I have to explain to Jayne why he can't pound the _huózhe zhàyào dòngzuò_ out of Simon, and I don't feel like doing that. You got it?"

Mal might have been friendly and the words might have sounded light enough, but Kara was suddenly very glad the man didn't have a gun in his hand. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Now make yourself useful and clean up your mess. Then head on up to the bridge. Wash says he can give you another lesson on _Serenity_ if you want.

Flying. Kara took a deep breath and then another, her soul leaping at the idea. "Thanks, sir."

***

Felix wasn't surprised when someone knocked on his door, but he was vaguely surprised when it was Kaylee who called out, "Felix? Are you in there?" He opened the door and Kaylee winced as she saw his face. "You should have Simon look at those," she said, her voice full of sympathy. She was balancing two cups.

"I will," Felix lied. He waited, but Kaylee didn't say anything. Finally, he sighed. "Come on in," he said, since that was obviously what she was waiting for.

Kaylee ducked under his arm. "I brought you down some tea," she said, handing him one cup and looking around at the few things he had in the room. She wasn't subtle about it, either, to the point where she actually picked up the one book he'd brought with him and examined the cover. She set it down and peered at the picture on the bedside table.

"Is this your sweetie?" she asked, holding it up.

"Yes," Felix said, a little of his irritation draining. "That's Louis."

"Aww." The look on Kaylee's face was one that Felix thought was generally reserved for puppies. "You make a real cute couple." She sighed wistfully. "You must miss him a lot."

"I do." Felix took an automatic sip of his tea and almost spit it out. "What's in this?"

"Oh, do you like it? I make it myself." Kaylee twinkled at him. "Engine room has just the right conditions, when I can get the stuff for it. I thought you could use something to calm your nerves."

"Well, it beats whiskey made from algae," Felix admitted, and took another sip. Actually, it tasted a lot like the moonshine Tyrol used to make, back when they had something worth making moonshine from.

Kaylee was still looking longingly at the picture. It _was_ a good picture of them- even Felix had to admit that, with Louis hugging him from behind and both of them actually _smiling_. But he didn't see exactly what would make Kaylee all glowy-eyed.

Kaylee answered his question for him. "Must be nice to have someone like that," she mused. "Someone who will love you no matter what."

"No matter what," Felix repeated bitterly, staring at his cup. "You've got an awful lot of faith in Louis, Kaylee."

"Don't you?" she asked.

 _I do_ , Felix wanted to say, but his mouth wouldn't say the words. "I don't know," he finally admitted. "There's a lot he doesn't know about New Caprica."

"Sounds like there's a lot nobody knows about New Caprica," Kaylee said. "The Eights are the ones that look like the girl on your ship, right? The pretty one with the dark hair?"

"Yeah." Felix sat down on the bed. "There was another one that used to be aboard _Galactica._ We called her Boomer. She was there for two years before the attacks."

"Are they all alike personality-wise?" She sat down next to him and pulled her feet up, and for one terrifying moment Felix thought she'd get a brush out and start doing his hair.

 _She was different. I thought she was different._ Felix looked away. "Kaylee, look. I know Kara and I just made it the entire ships' business, but can we not talk about New Caprica?"

"Okay," Kaylee said. "Just… can I ask one thing?"

"You can ask," Felix said.

"What happened to Kara? I mean, I got part of it, and that Two sounds like a real piece of work, but…"

He didn't know what she was asking. He didn't _want_ to know what she was really asking. "A Two kidnapped her and held her prisoner," he said. "I really don't know a whole lot more than that. I knew she was missing. I think I thought she was dead."

"But you asked about her, right?" Kaylee prompted.

Felix shook his head. "I couldn't," he said. "I didn't try to get- I didn't ask about anyone who I thought might be Resistance. If I had, they would have thought _I_ was Resistance. And if they thought I was having contact with the Resistance, at the absolute best I'd be tossed out of my job- and away from any chance at getting information. I did things that…" he shook his head angrily.

"But you did them 'cause you had to," Kaylee insisted. "That makes sense. People should see that, right?"

He thought of the Circle, of the airlock and the "trial." He thought of looking in the mirror after making announcements about ration cuts and curfew enforcement, after signing off on orders, after waking up with the Eight beside him. "Kaylee…"

"I know. You don't want to talk about it right now." Kaylee didn't sound offended at all. "Drink your tea, Felix," she said with a smile. She nudged him playfully. "I want to see what you have to say about Louis after you've got a cup in you."

***

"You're going to want to touch down away from the docks," Gwen told Mal over the comm system. "The Alliance is patrolling pretty hard around Jenkinstown."

"Thought that might be the case," Mal sighed. He glanced at Wash and Zoë, who were both listening in. "Got any better suggestions?"

"Don't like to use the same place all the time," Gwen said. "The Alliance ain't stupid, much as we like to pretend they are. But there's a field three miles west of my place. I'll send you the coordinates." Wash leaned forward, and then pulled up a map.

"I see it," he said, pointing to a green area. "Shouldn't be too hard."

"Not sure I like that jungle on all sides of us," Zoë pointed out.

"Alliance isn't going to be lurking all through the jungle, are they?" Wash asked Mal.

"It's a risk, but I think it's a small one," Mal agreed. "We'll touch down, and Wash, you, me, Jayne, and Kaylee will take the mule in." He smiled at Zoe's indignation. "Doc says you need to sit this one out."

"What about Kara and Felix?" Wash asked. "The whole reason they're with us is to get an idea of what sort of civilization is here- or just that it _is_ here."

"You don't think they've figured that out by now?" Zoë asked. "It's not like we're going to take them to a core planet."

"Yeah, but after years on a space ship, it must be nice just to get off. Especially since it sounds like New Caprica was worse than some of the Rim planets."

"Yeah, well, I'm getting the impression it's best if we don't mention New Caprica at all," Mal said. "They'll be able to get off the ship, and we'll see how things go. Might be that we can get them to a town for a spell." Mal thunked the console idly, and then clicked the comm on again. "All right. Gwen? We'll see you in two days."

"Looking forward to it, Mal." Gwen smiled toothily at him. She was a woman in her forties, with hair shaved short and darkly tanned skin. "See you then." The vid clicked off.

"Well," Mal said, grinning a little, "things are going good."

"Yeah," Wash said, mock-mournfully. "How long can _that_ last?"

***

Kara and Felix had managed to avoid talking for the past few days. It was surprisingly easy, really. Felix spent most of his time with Simon or Kaylee, and Kara gravitated more towards the bridge and studying the small short-range shuttle. She settled into the shuttle now, studying the controls.

"You want to take her out?"

Wash was leaning on the entrance. Kara jumped as he came in. "Sorry," he apologized. "Didn't mean to startle you. You want to take her out?"

"Who's flying _Serenity_?" Kara teased.

"Little green men that I picked up from another dimension," Wash said flippantly. "She's on autopilot, but Mal knows we're going."

Kara grinned. "You seem awfully sure I'm going to say yes."

"Yeah, well, you are." Wash sat down in the co-pilot's seat. "Let's go."

It felt so good to fly again. Wash had let her handle _Serenity_ before, but it was bulkier than what Kara was used to, and she didn't get that feeling of full freedom. But the shuttle was more her size, and as it danced around _Serenity_ , she felt more like herself than she had ever since she climbed out of the Viper and told the Admiral she knew the way to Earth.

Wash was good company, too. Easy-going and willing to listen, without pressing her. "You remind me of Sam," she heard herself saying.

"Who's Sam?" Wash asked.

"My husband. Back before things got complicated."

"The NC word, huh?" Wash asked.

"Actually, no. Back on Caprica."

"Before the Cylons attacked? Don't forget to vent your- there you go." He sat back and watched her hands.

"After, actually. Went back to Caprica on a mission for the President and there were survivors."

"Wow." Wash looked impressed. "You think there were survivors on any of the other planets?"

"I try not to think about it," Kara sighed. "But if there were, they're probably all dead by now anyway. The radiation would have killed them by now."

"What a way to go."

"Yeah. Not my death of choice."

"Me either. I'd prefer a fiery crash. Something nice and quick, with my hands on the controls. Maybe a nice explosion… beautiful pyrotechnics. Something my wife can admire after I'm gone." Kara stared forward grimly. "You okay?" Wash asked.

"Yeah."

" _Aiyā, wǒ shi nàyàngde yīgè bèndàn_ , you've probably watched a bunch of your pilots die in those yourself, haven't you? I'm sorry, Kara."

 _It's not that. It's I've been there, done that, and it's not so great._ She almost said it. But Wash would ask questions, and Kara didn't feel like dealing with questions she couldn't answer.

"It's all right," she said, still not looking at him. "Let's see what kind of speed we can get on this thing."

Wash smiled. "Sounds good."

***

Greenleaf. It spread out below them, and Felix watched eagerly. The planet was so _green_ , at least where they were landing. Nothing like New Caprica at all.

As they approached, he saw a small village set into the lush green vegetation. He imagined himself and Louis finding a house in a village like that, being able just to relax and earn a living without worrying about being wiped out. Real food, sunshine, a real _bed_ … he could really see a real bed, where they could stretch out together under a soft comforter and the sunlight could wake them up in the morning…. Sunlight flooded the bridge, and Felix tilted his chin up to it.

"You all right?" Zoë asked, laughter in her voice. Something about the way she laughed snapped Felix back to reality.

"I'm fine," he said, suddenly self-conscious. Zoë didn't smirk, but it sure felt like it. But he must have been imagining it as she turned her attention back to the landscape in front of them.

He snuck a peek at Starbuck. She wasn't watching the landscape nearly as much as she was watching Wash and how he landed _Serenity_. A pilot, through and through.

Funny how it was only now he realized that there was a time he… well, he hadn't liked her, but he'd respected her for that. He sighed, the euphoria of landing on ground ebbing out of him. By the time _Serenity_ touched down, the thrill was gone.

"Well," Wash said, powering down the engines, "let's do some crime."

***

It had been over a year since Mal had been to Gwen's operation; she had definitely expanded in that time. A thick stone wall punctuated with round gates surrounded the entire farm. There was a new, brightly painted barn and silo set in the middle of a few cultivated fields that were resplendent with brightly colored flowering bushes. There was a long stable, with at least twelve horses and as many openings for ATVs. A low building sat at a right angle to the barn, which Mal guessed served as a dorm for the workers, and Gwen's small house sat on the other side, the door painted red with gold flowers. As Wash drove the mule up and through the fence, Mal counted at least seven people working in the field, and guessed that there must be several more in the jungle harvesting plants as well. The mule bumped over the dirt road, and he, Kaylee, Jayne and Wash bounced around with it.

"What are we here for?" Jayne asked, looking around suspiciously. "We ain't hauling flowers, are we?"

"Course not," Kaylee sighed. "Simon says lots of his medicines are made from plants like these. But they sure are pretty, ain't they?"

Mal was about to comment when he spotted Gwen on the porch. She had a shot gun slung over one shoulder and a knife shoved into the belt of her skirt, but a friendly smile on her face.

"Mal! It's about time!"

"I ain't late," Mal said, grinning. "You're just always early." He slid off the mule. "How are you doing, Gwen?"

"Can't complain." Gwen looked around at her operation with an expression of satisfaction. "Come on," she said, hitching her gun further up her shoulder, "I've got the stuff over here. Wyatt! Keep an eye on things here!"

"Yes, ma'am." Wyatt, a tall, burly type with one hell of a bushy mustache, tipped his hat at Gwen.

As they walked across the porch, a couple of curious cats came out to investigate. One rubbed across Mal's shins, and he stared down.

"Oh!" Kaylee rescued him, scooping the cat up. The cat was perfectly eager to be snuggled and settled into her arms, purring delightedly.

"I see you've met Biscuit," Gwen said, stopping and scratching the cat behind the ears. "He's a friendly one. He came with Mei."

"He's adorable," Kaylee squealed. This was _not_ what Mal needed right now.

"Can we dispense with the livestock descriptions and just get to the job?" he asked impatiently. "I'm needing to make some repairs to _Serenity_ , and I can't do that without the credits."

"Since you ask _so_ nicely. This way." Gwen led them through the property.

"How is it that there's no sign of Alliance around here?" Mal asked. "I heard tell they're tightening up."

"We're just the right size," Gwen explained. "Any bigger and we'd be attracting their attention, that's for sure. Plus, we've got some legitimate contracts with Alliance suppliers. The key is not to sell to the Alliance themselves, but to the middleman."

"Makes sense," Mal agreed. Two men were sorting through several bins of berries.

"Course it would be nice to have a little more cash flow around here," Gwen sighed. "My babies could use it." She reached over and scratched Biscuit's ear, and he purred. "Not to mention it would be nice to upgrade some of the junk I've been using."

"Which reminds me, we need to get our hands on a compression coil. Got any good dealers for us?"

"Could be I've got something for you, can take it off your bill. What are you looking for?"

"Kaylee? Give her our Christmas list."

Mal dropped back to let Kaylee walk beside Gwen, and fell into pace between Jayne and Wash. "Okay, somebody tell me what's making me uneasy about this whole deal."

"She's a crazy cat lady?" Wash suggested, shrugging. "That's about all I got."

"I don't know, Mal," Jayne said, looking around. "I'm not seeing much of anything."

"Something ain't sitting right," Mal insisted. It frustrated him that he couldn't even begin to guess what it was.

"Maybe you're just a dog person," Jayne suggested, and then sneezed. "Look. She's taking us right to the goods."

She was. Gwen led them through the open yard and to a set of sheds. "In here," she said with a gesture of her head. She opened one of the sheds. "In here," she said. "I've got about twenty kilos."

As soon as they entered the confined space, Jayne began sneezing. It started out with just one, but within two minutes he was sneezing violently and in rapid succession. "You okay?" Mal asked.

"It's the gorram cat," Jayne explained. "Allergic."

"Well get on out of the shed then," Mal said, rolling his eyes. "I think Wash, Kaylee and I can handle twenty kilos." Still sneezing, and his eyes now watering, Jayne nodded and stepped out.

"Mal." Wash stepped close to him, touching his elbow. "Are we really getting into _drug running_? I mean, thumbing our noses at the Alliance is one thing, but cutting ground from some of the drug cartels… we aren’t equipped for that."

There was nothing wrong with Gwen's hearing. "You ain't taking these to drug lords," she said. "I've got my limits myself, and that's one hell of a way to attract Alliance attention. No. The Alliance likes to monitor all these industries, make sure only their people are making these drugs. Then they sell 'em at ridiculous prices. The people who are taking these off my hand don't have the Alliance breathing down their necks."

"There, see? Nice and ethical," Mal said, irritated. Wash knew better than to ask questions like that in the middle of a job. "Now let's get this stuff loaded."

The job wasn't quite as easy as it looked, because the packets of plant cuttings weren't boxed. Gwen wanted them boxed a certain way, and it took a good fifteen minutes. But the job finished smoothly, and soon they had four neat boxes of plant cuttings.

"Never does look like much, don't it?" Kaylee asked mournfully, setting Biscuit in her box.

"I don't know. There was that herd of cattle we had," Wash said "I'll take a couple boxes of plants over cows any day. Less mooing and less mess."

"Well, I guess, but them cows-" Mal began, and then stopped, both walking and talking. He sighed, set the box down, and put his hands up in the air.

Well, there really wasn't much choice. That's what you _did_ when there was a gun in your face.

***

Being out in the fresh air helped, but Jayne was still sneezing when a girl grabbed him and pulled him back. "Shh!" she hissed.

"Ain't my fault I'm sneezing," Jayne pointed out. "Them damn cats." And the girl's presence- even if she was pretty enough- wasn't helping. She must have had cat fur all over her skirt. The girl had long, shiny dark hair and golden skin with almond shaped eyes. And as she stepped back and Jayne's sneezing began to abate, he realized she wasn't a girl, either. She was a woman, and probably well into her thirties.

"Come on," she whispered, grabbing Jayne's hand and pulling him. "This way."

"Wait a minute," Jayne said. "Who the hell are you?"

The woman blinked at him. "My name is Mei," she said. "I'm Gwen's partner. Now get your ass in gear, because if they find us, we're in a _jùdà zàizhòng_ of trouble."

At least she spoke plainly. Jayne sneezed one more time and followed her.

***

There were _birds_ chirping. That was one of the many things New Caprica never had- birds. Felix closed his eyes and listened to their songs.

It felt good to be out in the fresh air and the sunshine, sitting on a patch of moss, but he noticed Simon was watching anxiously. "They're not going to find you here," he said, trying to tease.

"I know," Simon said with a brief smile. "The odds are astronomical. But I still…" he sighed, and looked over to where River was examining a plant. "I don't think they're going to give up easily."

 _Like the Cylons. They'll keep coming for you and coming for you…_ Felix shook his head. "What do you think you'll do?" he asked, leaning back on his hands. Felix had kicked his shoes off to feel the sun on his feet. "I mean, long term?"

"I don't know," Simon sighed. "I can’t see any way out of this. What will you do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the Cylons found you once," Simon said. "I'm no tactical officer, but wouldn't it stand to reason they'd find you again, here? "

The bottom fell out of Felix's stomach. "I don't… I assume…" he shut his eyes. He had no idea of how many Cylon there even _were_ , and the fact that they were _immortal_ …. The Colonists were bringing war to this civilization.

"Hey, are you okay?" Simon asked. "I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's fine," Felix cut him off. "I'm sure the Admiral and the President _must_ have made some sort of plan on this. And besides, they'll talk to the Alliance. I know they will."

"The Alliance?" Kara and Zoë had just come out of the ship. Kara was wearing a pair of pants and a shirt that she must have borrowed off Kaylee or Zoë; the outfit looked distinctly a part of this world. "What makes you think that the Old Man will have anything to do with the Alliance?" Kara said scornfully.

"Are you really that stupid?" Felix asked her. "The Colonial government and the Alliance are pretty much the same thing. Uniting the planets under one rule? For frak's sake, Kara, use your head."

Kara snorted, but Zoë didn't smile. She stared at Felix with an unreadable expression. Kara, on the other hand, was still scoffing. "The Colonial government doesn't do the kinds of things the Alliance government does."

"Yeah, ask _any_ Sagittaron about that," Felix said, rolling his eyes.

"You're suddenly all for Saggies?" Kara said. "Whoa, I missed the conversion."

"I didn't say that," Felix said, although the truth was he didn't know _what_ he thought about Sagittaron. "But I did say that the Alliance isn't just what we think it is. We're seeing a very one-sided version."

"Oh yeah? How much of what they've told you about the Rim planets has sunk in?" Kara said. "Terraforming? Human trafficking?"

"Companions-"

"I'm not talking about companions or whores!" Kara said. "I'm talking about _slaves_. The Alliance condones _slavery_."

"And so did the Colonial government, if you listen to Tom Zarek!"

"Who listens to Tom Zarek?" Kara asked.

"Lee, for starters," Felix said, getting to his feet. "Remember Lee, Kara? Remember that day on the _Astral Queen_ when he-"

"Shut up, Felix."

"Why should I? After all-"

"Because she's your commanding officer." Zoë broke in. "And that's reason enough for you to jump when she says jump and shut your hole when she says shut it. And I'm getting real tired of your _yīlián nǐde zuǐbā_."

That stung. "With respect," Felix ground out, "this isn't your business."

"You're on _Serenity_ ," Zoë said succinctly "That makes it our business."

Felix glanced at Kara. He should have known she'd look as surprised as he felt. No matter what he said about her- and he could find _plenty_ to say about Kara Thrace- she always had the guts to fight her own battles. But there was also a smirk tugging at her lips as well. It annoyed the hell out of him. "Look, I-"

Zoë arched an eyebrow.

Felix felt his fists clenching. "Look," he said through gritted teeth, "you have no idea-"

"I served under Mal," Zoë said. "I have more of an idea than you ever will, little man."

"You have no frakking idea. I used to be _proud_ to serve in the Fleet. You know what? That was all I ever wanted, from the time I was a kid, to be an officer on a battlestar. And I worked my _ass_ off for it. I've been ready to fight, I've been ready to die… I've been ready to _kill_ to keep my oath and protect the Colonies. And you know what happens? I get tossed out an airlock, never promoted, constant double shifts, put on a sewer ship chasing a magical migraine induced vision, and oh yeah, I'm under the command of someone who came back from the dead! Which, in my experience, means she's a frakking CYLON! And no one seems to notice that!"

Zoë glanced sharply at Kara. "Is that true?"

Kara lifted her chin. Felix could see from the look in her eyes that his words had drawn blood, and he was viciously glad. But when she answered, her voice was even. "Doesn't matter if it's true or not. Adama put me in command."

"It is true," Simon said incredulously. "You're a Cylon?"

Kara shook her head.

"What else could you be?" Felix demanded. "How else do you _die_ and come back? I know you died! I _heard_ you die! And you couldn't have gone to Earth! Earth doesn't exist anymore! Why the hell should I be following you?"

"Because you're a _zuǐbā bèipàn_ soldier!" Zoë snapped, stepping right up to Felix's face. He glared up at her, not willing to admit he sure as hell was intimidated. "And you had better fall in line and obey the chain of command."

Felix could barely speak, his jaw was clenched so tight. "When you've had your command shit on you to the point where they tell you to stand down and let your enemy take you prisoner as they fly away, then you can tell me to shut the frak up and follow the Cylon."

Zoë punched him. It was hard- harder than even one of Kara's punches- and it sent Felix sprawling into the dirt. When he looked up, her eyes were blazing, and he stayed down.

"Shut the frak up and follow the Cylon," she ordered.

"Now that's a sight I wish I'd seen the whole thing of," Jayne interrupted. Felix looked up to see Jayne standing with a small woman and four horses. "Too bad we got trouble." He gestured with his head to Zoë. "Come on. We ain't getting off this rock unless we get this sorted out."

Zoë glared down at Felix one more time, and then followed Jayne into the ship. Felix stayed on the ground, not willing to admit he was shaking.

Simon knelt down beside him. "I'm pretty sure Jayne just saved your hide," he said, glancing over at the ship. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," Felix said, not wanting to look Simon in the eyes. "I'll manage."

"She's not a Cylon," River said.

"What?"

River bent down into Felix's view. "Kara Thrace. You wish she was a Cylon- easier to hate. Easier to predict, although you couldn't predict _her_. Eight and Two… they destroy and they love and they destroy again. They keep you in glass jars and they never let you go. Like fireflies." She looked up at _Serenity_ and giggled. "Fireflies."

"River… if there's trouble, you'd better get in the ship," Simon said. "Go." For once, she obeyed, and Simon put a hand on Felix's shoulder. "Come on," he said, in a very similar, fraternal sort of voice. "You're as pale as a ghost. Let's get in the ship."

Felix let Simon help him stand and guide him inside the ship. As they made their way up the ramp, he passed Kara, who was still standing still, an unreadable expression on her face as she watched him go.

***

"Wyatt." Gwen was not looking amused at all. Mal couldn't blame her, given the number of guns aimed at them. "What the _zhuānyòng dìyù_ are you doing?"

"You really need an explanation?" Wyatt asked incredulously. "I'm taking over this here operation."

'I'd say you and what army, but it seems you got that covered," Gwen said, looking at the people holding them down. "Although I must say, I don't recognize all your people here."

"Don't surprise me, since you get all high and mighty about your 'principles'." The mockery dropped from his voice on the last word. "I gotta say, Gwen, this operation could really go much more interesting and profitable places than where you're taking it."

Gwen drew herself up. "If you want to go play with the drug runners, be my guest. There's plenty more jungle for you to carve out your own market."

"Aww, Gwen." Wyatt grinned. "You know the Alliance ain't going to look the other way if I do that. Not these days, what with all the paperwork and the way they're tightening up. But if I just take over this operation… slip a few credits to the magistrate around these parts…." His grin got toothier. "And I'll have plenty of credits after getting the reward for handing in an illegal trader and a few smugglers."

"You ain't got no proof of that," Gwen said calmly.

Wyatt laughed. "Want to bet?" He reached over and deftly undid Biscuit's collar. "Amazing what they can do with recording devices these days, ain't it?" he asked, holding up the collar. He clicked a button, and Gwen's voice came out clearly. " _The Alliance likes to monitor all these industries, make sure only their people are making these drugs. Then they sell 'em at ridiculous prices. The people who are taking these off my hands don't have the Alliance breathing down their necks._ "

"Why, you piece of _jiàzhí wú xiàng tán_. I oughta-"

"You oughta, but you ain't gonna," Wyatt said smugly. "You're staying put until the Alliance patrol gets here to pick you up and get you out of my hair." He gestured to one of his goons. "Lock 'em in, boys."

"Hey, wait-" Mal began, but it was no use. The shed door slammed shut, and they all heard the hatch lock.

"Well, frak," Mal found himself saying.

***

"They've got about fifteen, twenty men, near as I can figure," Mei explained, spreading out the diagram she'd drawn of the farm. "Wyatt's sneaky, but he's not as smart as he thinks he is. And he's not as popular as he thinks he is, either. We've got a good ten workers who would be willing to fight to get Gwen out of there, and another five who won't pick up a gun either way unless they're pressed."

"That evens the odds," Zoë said, glancing at Kara.

Kara nodded, studying the diagram. "We could take the shuttle in-"

"The shuttle'd attract the Alliance," Zoë pointed out. "We get them on top of us, we got a lot more problems than we're wanting right about now."

"Good point." Kara could feel a plan patting itself into place.

"He's got guards posted at the main entrances," Mei said. "But not this one here." She pointed to a spot where she'd drawn a dense jungle. "Hidden door in the wall. Only Gwen and I know about it."

"That's good to know," Kara said, heartened. "I think the first thing we should do-"

"The first thing we should do is move _Serenity_ ," Gaeta interrupted. He came in, leaning a bit on Simon. Zoë must have gotten the bastard good. Kara couldn't help a grim smile, but Gaeta ignored it. "One of the first things the Alliance is going to look for will be the ship. Plus, we can get closer to the target." He took his place at the table, not looking at either Zoë or Kara, but staring down at the diagram.

"There's a clearing over here," Mei said. "It's small, but you're right. It's closer. It's one that we've used before- that's why Gwen didn't have you land there. But right now, they're going to be looking here especially, right?"

"Right," Kara agreed. She frowned. "How easy is it if we kill a man in these parts?"

"Ain't nothing we haven't dealt with before," Zoë said with a shrug.

"Excellent," Kara said, leaning in. "All right. Here's what we're going to do…."

***

"You can stop that," Gwen sighed, sitting on a crate and stroking Biscuit's fur. "You can bang and bang, but we just ain't got the tools in here to make it work. When Mei builds something, it lasts. Prying boards off this shed just ain't going to happen with what we got to work with. And even if it did, I don't see how you'd get past Wyatt and his men afterwards."

"Well, you got any better suggestions?" Mal asked.

"We could tunnel out," Kaylee said, scratching the dirt floor with the toe of her boot.

"With what?" Wash pointed out. "We don't even have spoons."

"Oh. And I guess the guns are still a problem too," Kaylee concluded glumly

"Well then," Mal turned to Gwen, "I ain't planning on sitting here waiting to have the Alliance pick me up."

"That's not what I'm waiting for," Gwen said with a shrug.

"Oh? Enlighten me."

"I don't think they've got Mei yet," Gwen said. "Wyatt would be rubbing it in my face if he did. He and Mei don't exactly get along. And it seems to me you're missing a member of your own crew, too."

"Jayne?" Mal asked, not sure if he was relieved or incredulous as he realized it. "Jayne." And Jayne could go for help- get Zoë and Simon and Kara and Felix. Well, Zoë, anyway, although she was still in rough shape. And Kara and Felix were fighters… who didn't know the lay of the land. And Simon….

"So our lives are in Jayne's hands?" Kaylee asked, putting the pieces together.

"Sure looks that way," Mal said.

Wash sighed. "I'll keep looking for a spoon."

***

"You all right?" Zoë asked Kara as she helped Kara load the weapons.

"Sure," Kara said, shrugging. "I'd feel better if I was in my Viper, but I've done ground combat before."

"Don't mean that," Zoë said. "I meant Gaeta."

"Oh. That." Kara rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I know you don't really believe it, but Gaeta's duty bound. He'll come through."

"You're right. I don't believe it," Zoë said flatly.

Something about her tone of voice and the fierce look on her face reminded Kara that one of the people they were going to rescue was Zoë's husband. "I've known Gaeta for a long time," Kara said, focusing on her gun. "Ever since I first was assigned to the _Galactica_. And we didn't like each other from the start. But he's smart, and he's not a coward, I'll give him that. And more than that… Felix thinks the world should work a certain way. No. Felix _believes_ the world should work a certain way, where everybody is honorable and you always get what's coming to you. He's an idiot and he's frakking stupid when it comes to that, but… I wish like hell that I lived in his world. He'll do everything he needs to do to save Mal and Kaylee and Wash, because that's what he thinks is right."

"Even after what he said about the Alliance-"

"He compared the Alliance to the Colonial government," Kara pointed out. "In case you've missed any of his tirades about Baltar's trial, he's not to happy with the Colonial government right now."

Zoë nodded. "All right," she said, handing Kara a gun. "This one's set."

"Thanks." Kara stared at the gun for a moment. "What he said though… about me dying and coming back… it's true. I don't know how it happened- I don't know _what_ happened- but…" she shook her head. "It's true. I have no idea _what_ I am."

"You're a soldier," Zoë said simply, "and your mission is to get your people home. That's all you need to be right now." She locked and loaded the gun she was holding, and then handed it to Kara. "Now go do your job."

***

A _horse_. In his wildest dreams, Felix had never seen himself charging into a battle on a _horse._ The horse he was "riding" whinnied and took a few agitated steps, and Felix tightened his hold on the reins. From the way the horse reacted, he suspected that wasn't what he was supposed to do.

"We ready?" Jayne asked.

Kara looked at her watch. "Almost. We need to give Mei a few more minutes to get into position."

"Is this going to work?" Simon asked. Even _Simon_ was sitting the horse better than Felix was. Of course, Simon had told them that he'd had dressage lessons as a child.

"Don't you worry," Jayne said. "You just ride that horse in and then ride a horse out. That's all you have to do. It'll be hard enough for you to keep that lily white ass of yours in one piece."

Simon closed his eyes for a minute. "Thank you for that particular description," he said, with a long-suffering sigh. "I was just asking-"

He said more, but Felix barely heard it as his horse… pranced? Cantered? Hell if he knew, but the damn thing did _something_ and made its way over to investigate an interesting flower.

"A free spirit." River, who was watching the proceedings, giggled. Then her face turned mostly serious, except for a sly little grin. "They keep him tethered and bound and feed him with shiny red apples and cubes of sugar, but he knows he's not free. And he fights it in ways they don't always want to see."

Felix looked away.

"All right," Kara said, her eyes still on her watch. "Let's go."

Grateful to be away from River, Felix nudged his horse into something resembling a line. Fortunately, as Kara and Jayne and Simon began to ride, his horse decided that it looked like a good idea to join the others and followed along, without much prompting at all from Felix. He ducked down, wrapping the reins around his hands and trying not to cling too hard to the thing.

The ride was only supposedly about a mile, but it felt much longer than that. By the time they caught sight of the wall that surrounded the farm, his thighs were burning, his lower back was cramped up, and his ass felt like someone had pounded it with a meat mallet. He hoped he'd be able to get off his horse when the time came. He reached into his BDU pants and pulled out his gun.

The wall looked solid, but as they approached, a door opened. "Nice secret," Jayne grunted appreciatively, and the four of them entered. Simon, Felix noticed, looked extremely pale and nervous, and for the first time, Felix was very glad that Kara was with them. She looked sharp and alert, like she was enjoying this. Knowing Starbuck, she probably was.

The details were a blur to him, even right after the skirmish. He remembered the first shot, coming from the upper right and zinging harmlessly past his left shoulder to land in the dirt. He remembered pulling out his own gun and firing, his other hand still tangled tightly in the reins. The horse whinnied and reared, and he hung on for dear life.

He remembered Kara and Jayne shouting back and forth, both of them firing guns like they were born to it. He remembered the sight of Kara's eyes, narrowing as she squinted down a barrel. He remembered seeing Simon swing as a man came towards him with a knife, and an anguished cry as the man went down, a bullet through his throat. And he remembered the hard, determined look on Mei's face as she aimed her shotgun again, picking off another one.

"Gaeta!" Kara yelled, and he realized that a shed was right in front of him, "get your ass in gear!"

He slid off the horse, and the minute his feet touched the ground the haze disappeared, and he was Lieutenant Gaeta, and he was back on familiar turf. He had a small roll of tools in his pocket. He didn't bother with the lock, but went straight to taking the hinges off the door. Someone fired at him and the bullet lodged in the wooden shed, but he held his ground and focused on the hinges. Inside, he heard shouting. Thank the gods, Jayne had been right in which one it was.

Another shot. "Move it, Gaeta!" Kara shouted, and a horse whinnied. In a strange way, it was like being a kid again, and the random adventures that they used to have in a backyard. But the man falling down next to him, blood bubbling at his lips reminded him that yes, this was as real as the Cylons and _Galactica_ and anything else he'd ever known. He doubled his efforts.

The hinge gave way, and nearly as soon as it did a cat came through. Felix ducked, barely avoiding the extended claws. He tried to get down to work on the bottom hinge, but the door gave way enough that a woman crawled through the hole left at the top. "Mei with you?" was the first thing she said.

"Erm, she came in with us. She's been firing at a lot of them," Felix offered, belatedly realizing that this was Gwen. "I'm pretty sure she's okay."

"Good." Gwen turned around and helped Kaylee jump down out of the gap left between the door and the wall. "Well, come on. We ain't got all day."

The shooting, however, was lessening. Felix realized it as Wash and then Mal climbed out of the shed. "Mal!" he heard Jayne shout. "Better get over here!"

Gwen looked over, and her face hardened. "Give me your gun," she ordered Felix. Her tone was so firm and so confident that Felix handed it over almost without thinking. She strode over to where Jayne was standing, his boot on Wyatt's chest.

"Don't think I've got any business going over there," Mal commented, brushing off his shirt. "Besides, I'm liable to make Jayne sneeze with all this cat hair I've got on me, and that would really ruin this beautiful moment." And indeed, when Felix looked again, Mei was standing above Wyatt, her shotgun trained on him, Jayne standing back out of the way. Gwen stepped to her side, and the two women looked at each other. A silent conversation happened, they both nodded, and in perfect accord, they both fired. Wyatt's body jerked, and then the pool of blood started to spread. Gwen bent down, checked for a pulse, and only then, when she was satisfied that Wyatt was dead did she pull Mei into her arms. Felix politely looked away.

"We'd best be going," Mal said quietly. "This all made enough ruckus that the Alliance'll be coming down on us. Gwen can handle them, but there's a lot of questions they might ask us that we don't want to be answering about now. Especially," he added, leaning over the ruined door and picking up a box, "where we got these botany specimens. Let's saddle up."

 _Saddle up._ Two words Felix was fairly certain he never, _ever_ wanted to hear again.

***

 _Serenity_ was always a welcome sight, but right now, riding in, Mal was even more grateful than usual to see her graceful form nestled among the trees. And he was even more grateful to see Zoë standing on the ramp, ready to welcome them home.

"Glad to see you back, sir," she said laconically, only the barest quirk of her lips betraying any worry.

"Glad to _be_ back. Good work on your part. Your plan?"

"Had some help." Zoë's face lit up, and Mal knew that Kara and Wash must have caught up and were dismounting. "If you'll excuse me, sir…"

"Course." Mal watched as she went down and greeted Wash with a relieved embrace. From her seat on the horse, Kara winked at him. Mal gestured with his head and she dismounted and came up to join him.

"Nice bit of shooting you were doing there," he said as Kara came into ear shot. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Kara didn't seem to think it was a big deal. Instead, she turned and scanned the jungle.

"Everything's okay," Mal said. "Jayne had Kaylee, and Simon and Felix should be along as well."

"I know," Kara said. "But did you see Felix try to ride a horse? I'm not missing that sight again."

"I can imagine. You sure it was the best idea to put him and the doc on the same one?"

"Simon was fine. It was Felix that was a mess." Kara's grin was evil, but it faded fast. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

Kara hesitated, still watching. "Were you ever a prisoner of war?"

Her question came out of left field, and he could tell she expected it to be a painful one. But it wasn't. Not yet. "Yeah."

Jayne and Kaylee rode up out of the jungle, Kaylee's arms around Jayne's waist. Mal wasn't close enough to hear what he said, but he assumed it was fairly dirty from the way that Kaylee smacked him upside the head as she slid off the horse. "There more to that question, Kara?" he said when she didn't say anything more.

Kara blinked and came out of wherever her thoughts had taken her. "No," she said, and she smiled at him. Not sarcastically, not bitterly, but a real smile. "Just hearing how you answered it… that answered my question."

Mal clapped his hand on her shoulder, squeezing tight for a long moment. "It'll come," he reassured her. "Come on. Let's get… oh for the love of _men de zuǒ jiǎozhǎng._ You were right. That man can _not_ sit a horse. Zoë!" he called. "Hey Zoë! Get down here! You have got to see this!"

And Kara was still laughing.

***

The ship was quiet. It seemed especially so after the excitement of the day, and then the dinner around the table that night. It had been a good dinner, with laughter and eager recounts. Jayne and Kaylee teasing each other about the cat, Simon and Felix defending their collective honor against the good-natured jibes of the others, Wash and Zoë cheerfully bickering. Kara had enjoyed that dinner more than any other dinner she'd had recently, and not just because the food wasn't algae. But afterwards, she couldn't sleep.

She made her way quietly to the kitchen. The entire ship was asleep, or so she thought, until she saw the light on.

Gaeta.

She hesitated in the doorway, but he looked up and didn't make a comment, so she came on in. He was sitting at the empty table, a cup in front of him. "Anything good?" she asked him.

"Just tea."

"Oh." Kara shrugged and made her way to the counter. She wasn't sure that she was really hungry, but she was definitely restless. She rummaged through, finally settling on a cup of tea for herself and something that looked like crackers. She hesitated between going to the table or sitting in the little alcove of chairs.

"I'm sorry," Gaeta said suddenly.

"What?" Kara turned in shock.

Gaeta looked up from the table, and as she moved closer, she could see that his eyes were rimmed with red. "I'm sorry," he said again. "I never said it, not really. But I'm sorry I couldn't get you out on New Caprica."

"What the…" Kara just stared at him for a long time. Then she found herself making her way over to the table and sitting down across from him. "Thanks," she said, after a long period of not knowing what to say passed. She frowned, tapping the rim of her cup. "I guess I get why you didn't," she said finally, grudgingly. "Did you know Sam was in the Resistance?"

"I didn't _know_ ," Gaeta said, dropping his gaze back down to the table. "But I suspected. And I knew you. There was no way you wouldn't be. It was too big a risk to ask for you. There were a lot of people it was too big a risk to ask for."

"Yeah. I can see that." She didn't want to- she _hadn't_ wanted to- but she could.

"Thing is," Gaeta said, looking over her shoulder, "there were people I asked for. There was an Eight…" he closed his eyes for a long moment, and Kara found herself holding her breath. "There was an Eight," he repeated slowly. "She was… she was kind. She told me…" he shook his head angrily. "She told me she'd help."

"Help you get inside information?" Kara asked disbelievingly.

Gaeta shook his head. "No. I didn't trust her with that. I couldn't trust anyone with that. That was… but she knew I was missing people. Gods, I knew so many people on New Caprica. Not friends, just…before the Cyons. They'd come in and they'd ask me for help or they'd complain and every now and then I could _do_ something. I could…. Anyway, she knew I was worried, and she told me she'd get them out, or at least find out. If I gave her names."

"Names," Kara repeated. "You gave her names?"

"I gave her names," Gaeta said, and the red around his eyes intensified. "People I knew weren't Resistance, people who had probably not done a damn thing wrong except be human. I gave her names and she got them out."

"I didn't know that," Kara said, vaguely impressed. There was more to the story- she could guess it by the way his hands shook now and the way the mention of Eights made him lose any semblance of control. "Good on you, Felix."

"No. Not good. I thought it was, but… I saw some of them, down on New Caprica. Here and there. But I didn't see a lot of them." A chill began forming in the pit of Kara's stomach. "And when I got back up, I didn't check the manifests. And when their pictures began appearing on the wall, I told myself they'd died in the Exodus. After all, they'd gotten out, right?"

"Right," Kara said, but not like she meant it.

"And I told myself it wasn't that many, that there was some other explanation, that the Eight…" his face turned angry. "I told her I loved her. I told _myself_ I loved her. I didn't, but I had to believe it. Because why else would she do this for me? Why else would she risk so much to get people I cared about out? She couldn't be laying a trap. The Cylons didn't work like that- they would have just thrown me into detention or shot me in the streets. So I loved her and she loved me. I _told_ myself that."

"But…"

"There was Gaius." Gaeta laughed nastily. "You know why I stabbed him? He told me he knew what my Eight did. Gaius _knew_ , and he let me do it. But then I thought about it and I thought maybe he found out later. Maybe she hid it that well and then she gloated to him on that basestar, and he found out that way."

"I guess it's possible," Kara said, wishing the tea was spiked.

"And then today, River… she said something. Simon said it was nonsense, but it wasn't. The Eight and the Two, they destroy and they love and they destroy again. They keep you in glass jars and they never let you go. Like fireflies."

Kara felt her own control slipping away. "Simon's right," she heard herself saying, "it's nonsense."

"It's not," Gaeta said. "That's what she did. She slept with me because it bound me to her, and it blinded me to what she was doing even more. And I… I let her do it. I couldn't…"

Kara's head snapped up, and the world snapped back into focus. "You didn't know." She knew that. "She played you, Felix. She must have."

"Then why did I see some of them?"

"Why did you see some of them?" the sick feeling was returning, but this time, Kara understood it. "Because she must have let them go, you idiot. She knew you'd need to see some of them to make you believe she was keeping her word, so she let some of them go." The scenario unfolded in front of her and she watched, horrified. "Gods, Gaeta…."

He looked down again. Kara had no idea what to say, except that so much more made sense now. All of Gaeta's burning anger over New Caprica, his attempt on Gaius Baltar's life… it had seemed reasonable at the time, just a little excessive. If she'd thought about it at all, which frankly she hadn't. But one thing was clear: there was a damn good reason Felix Gaeta was on edge these days.

She didn't know what to say. There wasn't really anything she could say, really. So instead, she just pushed aside her cup of tea and took his hand. He squeezed back, and they sat there in _Serenity_ 's kitchen in silence.

***

The _Demeterius_ loomed in front of them, and Mal breathed a sigh of relief. Relief and a bit of disappointment as well. "There she is," he told Kara, who was looking out the bridge with him. "You ready to go home?"

"Home," Kara laughed. "That's one thing the _Demetrius_ is not. But I will be glad to get back to _Galactica._ But at least you'll get your people back."

"Be glad of that," Mal admitted. Not so glad to lose Kara. And Felix, although to a lesser extent. Felix… Mal could already see Felix having a house or some operation on the ground on a Rim planet and being a place where they stopped over. In fact, he'd put money on it. But Felix's heart wasn't in the skies. Maybe it had been once, but not anymore. Kara's still was, and Kara was his type of people.

Kara had a wisftul look about her. "Hey," Mal said, "it's almost over. You get there, you get home, you take them to… you two decide where you're going to take them?"

"We're going to have to let the Admiral make the decision," Kara said. "But we're going to recommend a small group going to Persephone first. Get the lay of the land better."

"Sounds reasonable."

She looked at him. "Sure you won't come back to _Galactica_ with us?"

Mal shook his head. "Can't risk it. I know you won't turn us in, and I know Felix won't, but when people see how many credits are on Simon and River's heads… especially folks just starting out with nothing…. It ain't a good idea."

Kara nodded. "Sounds reasonable," she said, in a perfect imitation of his tone.

"Might stay a while on Persephone though," Mal said. "Give Kaylee time to scour the parts dealers for a new catalyzer, see if we can even find that compression coil she's been writing letters to Santa for. Sounds like it won't take you long to get there."

"We'll probably get there before you," Kara said dryly.

"Might be that we could meet up. I don't know what you're planning on doing once you settle, but…"

"Settle." Kara smirked at the word. "Sounds strange to me."

"Thought it might. Could always use another person on my crew. Earn you up some coin until you're ready to figure out what you want to do."

Kara looked at him sideways. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"I'll think about it." There was a smile tugging on her lips. "We'd better let the _Demetrius_ know we're home. Mind if I use the comm?"

"Not at all." Mal stepped back and let her work.

***

Felix had forgotten how much the _Demetrius_ stunk. That was the first thing he thought when he stepped back on the ship, looking around at eager faces. He was grinning from ear to ear, and next to him, Kara was, too.

"It's good," she said. "It's not Earth, but there are over forty planets with human inhabitants, everything from heavily civilized to just barely tamed. We've got a new home."

The cheer that went up echoed through the ship, and Felix suddenly found himself in a press of humanity. Helo was asking about military assets and Pike was asking about food, and Hot Dog wanted to know if there was a map, because he couldn't wrap his mind around _forty_ planets being civilized without FTL technology, and neither Inara nor Book had been able to explain it to his satisfaction.

Both Inara and Book looked hot and sweaty, like the rest of the crew. Book had traded his jacket and collar for a set of tanks, and Inara still looked glamorous stripped down to a camisole and with her hair tied up. But both of them looked happy. Felix learned much later that their arrival had interrupted a small prayer meeting that Book had been holding, and that Inara had formed very close relationships with several of the crew as well, particularly Gunny Mathias and Athena. Although both of them looked extremely grateful when Mal brought over a meal from _Serenity_ stores.

It was a party, and a long deserved one. But maybe because he'd been on _Serenity_ , and even more on Greenleaf, Felix didn't feel like joining in. After a while he left the common room where the celebration was going on for the silence of the bridge.

He was toying with some calculations when he heard footsteps, and looked up to see Simon standing awkwardly, hands in his pockets, looking around. "Faster than light," Simon said. "I still can't quite believe it."

"Watch from the bridge when we go," Felix suggested. "You'll at least see it."

Simon nodded, and then the smile leeched off his face. "So you're really going," he said.

"Yeah. It will be good to get home."

"I know." Simon's smile was a little too bright. "It's just… you're the first… not friend, they're _friends_ on _Serenity_. Or family. Or something." He shrugged, laughing a little self-depricatingly. "Kindred spirit, I guess, at the risk of sounding colloquial. Ever since I got River away from the Alliance…." He shrugged again. "I'll miss you. Any idea what you're going to do?"

He saw the wistful envy on Simon's face at the thought of being free to make whatever kind of life he pleased, but he knew Simon well enough not to comment on it right now. "I don't know," Felix admitted. "But not the military. I'm not so sure I want to go to a Core planet, either. A lot depends on what Louis wants to do." If nothing else, _that_ had become clear in Felix's mind, that the rest of his life was going to include Louis. "Mal was telling me about a moon called Haven. Maybe I just get the appeal from the name, but…" he shrugged. "I'm ready to stay in one place for a bit."

"I know. I…" Simon shook his head. "What about Kara?"

"I don't know. We haven't talked about it."

"I thought you'd been getting on better since Greenleaf."

"We have," Felix admitted. "But Kara and I probably aren't ever going to be what you'd call friends." He couldn't put everything with Kara into words, but the feelings of _respect_ and _peace_ vaguely floated around the notion of her now. "I don't see us staying in close touch." He swallowed. "Unlike you and me." He plunged. "Look. I know you can't stay in one place. You're safer on the move. But I also know Louis, and I know me, and I know I can tell you this. Any time you- and the rest of _Serenity_ \- but any time _you_ need a place to stay for a while, wherever I am is open to you."

Simon's face lit up. "Thanks," he said.

Felix smiled back. "I mean it. Any time."

***

The good-byes took longer than Mal expected. Kaylee hugged both Kara and Felix several times, insisting that she wanted to meet both Sam and Louis. Mal noticed that Felix promised enthusiastically, and Kara ignored the question. Zoë didn't hug Kara, but her extended hand and the smile on her face was the closest she was going to get. Jayne was raising a fuss about how there should be alcohol involved. But the ones that were harder to tear away were Inara and Book, who had made closer ties with the _Demetrius_ crew.

Eventually, however, Mal rounded his crew up and got them to his ship. He extended his hand to Kara.

"You know, not sure I ever said thank you."

"Thank you?" Kara asked, surprised. "For what?"

"For finding us, and getting us that catalyzer. You saved our asses."

"Oh." Kara grinned. "You're welcome."

"Take care, Kara."

"You, too. See you on Persephone."

"Yeah." He started to walk towards the airlock to get on board _Serenity_.

"Mal?"

He stopped and turned around. "Yeah?"

"If that offer's still open… I think I might take you up on it."

He grinned. "It is. See you on Persephone."

 _Serenity_ felt a little less empty than he thought it would as he got back on and made his way to the bridge. Not to mention, with Book and Inara back it was starting to feel normal again. Mal stood by Wash, watching the _Demetrius._

Felix's voice came onto the comm. "Thanks for everything, _Serenity_ ," he said.

"You're welcome."

There was a hesitation, and then Felix said, "Mal, is Zoë there?"

"She's down in the hold."

"Oh. Well… can you just tell her I said I'm sorry, and thank you?"

Mal wasn't sure what Felix meant, but Wash smiled. "Will do. All right, _Demetrius_. Let's see this magic disappearing trick of yours."

"All right. Spooling up the FTL drive. Jumping in five… four… three… two…"

One minute the _Demetrius_ was there in front of them, and the next minute, just like that it was _gone_. Mal stared at the empty space. "Whoa."

"Yeah," Wash agreed, half incredulous and half laughing. "If nothing else, they can make a fortune just selling that tech to the Alliance."

"Don't even suggest it," Mal said. He stared once more at the space, and then turned off the static on the comm. "Well, come on," he said. "We've got a delivery to make. Set the course for _Perspehone._ "

"Will do."

Mal clapped him on the shoulder and then walked down the stairs and through his ship, whistling.


End file.
